Conditioning Research

There has been some interest in the papers about the amazing quads of the German cyclist Robert Forstemann There is a blog here that has pulled together a few more photos and videos of this guy. Tom Platz eat your heart out....

Tom Furman sent me a copy of his new ebook to review.  He sells a few ebooks which are all very good value, well produced and extremely accessible.  I've recommended his book 10 Exercises that will de-age your body by 10 years  to lots of people who just need a very simple set of moves. ACTIVATE - continues in that style.  At only $10 it is superb value, well designed and illustrated with clear photographs and simple explanations of the various stretches and mobility drills.  I am not really a fan of stretching as a warm up, but targeted stretching to promote and preserve appropriate flexibility- as Tom explains in the book - certainly has a role. Definitely worth your $10   You can download a copy here. I hope that Tom does't mind me taking a quote from the book, but this sums up his approach and interest:  what type of training should the person with no desire to compete, but who wants to improve both quality of life and longevi...

It is a theme that I've  had on here before - the importance of basic strength as people get older.  Balance is sometimes promoted as key to preventing falls in the elderly but sometimes the issue is not balance but strength. Here is a new study that highlights this principle: Effect of Lower Limb Strength on Falls and Balance of the Elderly (Full paper) Objective To assess the effect of lower limb strength on falls and balance in community-dwelling elderly persons by a health status questionnaire, evaluation of lower limb strength and balance. Method A total of 86 subjects (age 69.8±5.3) were categorized into one of two groups, "Fallers" and "Non-fallers". Thirty one participants who had reported the experience of having fallen unexpectedly at least once in the past year were assigned into the group "Fallers", and the remaining 55 subjects having no fall history in the past year, "Non-fallers". A self-assessmen...

Just wanted to point to a couple of interesting things I saw today.  I have remarked previously on this blog that the cool topics seem at the moment to be: the microbiome - the bacteria that live in and on us and have a profound impact on our health epigenetics - your genes are not your destiny, they do not provide an absolute blueprint, but a set of options;  it is the genes that are expressed / turned on that are important.  Lots of things in your environment - even before birth - control this. mitochondria - the strange little symbiotic organelles / primitive cells that live within our cells and are central to generating energy, oxidising fuel. Here are two stories that relate to a couple of these: Delivery by caesarean section and risk of obesity  - now fatter women often end up having c sections so that may be one factor, but I've also seen discussion that one element may be that a vaginal birth exposes the baby to essentil bacteria, prim...

This is a fascinating one.  It is all connected you know.  Emotion, performance, appearance.  Your posture and expression can be a window on your mental and physical state.  It is not only that you feelings can affect your posture and your facial expression - you look dejected or unhappy - it seems that your expression can affect your feelings.....smiling makes things feel better. This was reported today - Smiling Facilitates Stress Recovery The results of the study suggest that smiling may actually influence our physical state: compared to participants who held neutral facial expressions, participants who were instructed to smile, and in particular those with Duchenne ( genuine ) smiles, had lower heart rate levels after recovery from the stressful activities. The participants who held chopsticks in a manner that forced them to smile, but were not explicitly told to smile as part of the training, also reported a smaller decrease in positive affect compared to ...

People keep sending me jumps...here is a 60" one......

Reader Justin Martirano sent me this stunning jump video of him  getting 51.5" Long time reader, love your site. Saw your box jump post today and thought I'd forward my last high box jump. Next time I'll go for 9 plates.  Wow!  Let me know when you get the 9 Justin!

I've not had a video of a big jump on here for a while.  I used to post lots of them - there is something about a huge jump that I find very impressive - the power and explosiveness.  I am sue there is technique here - getting those feet up - but strength is key too.

Well it is not exactly Superslow (TM)  as RennEx would prescribe this is a moderately slow protocol - 3 second positive, 3 second negative.  Also from the abstract it is difficult to be clear about what they did...but even so it is good to see this study.  Old people need muscle and this is a clear way to put some beef on them.   Twice a week that is all. Can anyone get the full paper? Low-intensity Resistance Exercise with Slow Movement and Tonic Force Generation Increases Muscle Size and Strength in Older Adults We investigated the effects of low-intensity resistance training on muscle size and strength in old men and women. Thirty five participants (59-76 years old) were randomly assigned into two groups and performed low-intensity (50% of one-repetition maximum) knee extension and flexion exercises with either slow movement and tonic force generation (LST; 3-s eccentric, 3-s concentric, and 1-s isometric actions with no rest between each repetition) ...

Barefoot running and minimal shoes must be getting popular when there are academic studies on how interested athletes are in the subject....

Ha.  I know I've been posting a lot on creatine recently but this one that I saw today deserved a post....Scottish Punk Brewer   Brew Dog have brought out a special beer for the Olympics, laced with creatine and other performance enhancers! Read about it on their blog - Never Mind the Anabolics! This is Never Mind the Anabolics . A 6.5% India Pale Ale infused with creatine, guarana, ginseng, gingo, maca powder, matcha tea and kola nut. Why waste time training hard? This little beauty does the hard work for you. Guaranteed to boost your sporting ability in an almost completely legal way. Most of the performance enhancing additives we infused into this ale are banned for professional athletes. But winning by any possible means is the name of the game here. You can get your paws on the beer here: www.brewdog.com/product/never-mind-the-anabolics

Rannoch pointed to this blog.  I've been reading it through and there is some great stuff on there.  Check it out.   The Health Delusion  is the book and the blog is Health Uncut

Sticking to the subject of creatine....I spotted this new review, with the whole paper available. Creatine supplementation with specific view to exercise/sports performance: an update Creatine is one of the most popular and widely researched natural supplements. The majority of studies have focused on the effects of creatine monohydrate on performance and health; however, many other forms of creatine exist and are commercially available in the sports nutrition/supplement market. Regardless of the form, supplementation with creatine has regularly shown to increase strength, fat free mass, and muscle morphology with concurrent heavy resistance training more than resistance training alone. Creatine may be of benefit in other modes of exercise such as high-intensity sprints or endurance training. However, it appears that the effects of creatine diminish as the length of time spent exercising increases. Even though not all individuals respond similarly to creatin...

I've had that experience - a hard massage leaving me feeling a bit wiped out: tired, groggy.  This is a fascinating post from  Paul explaining his theory that in many cases this is caused by a mild case of rhabdo ..... Poisoned by Massage Rather than being “detoxifying,” as many believe, massage probably causes a modestly toxic situation in the body

The BBC Panorama programme last night has caused a bit of interest in its expose that many of the products pushed for sports be they sports drinks, fancy footwear or BCAAs are actually pretty useless and in fact in some cases - drinking too much for example - can cause harm - reported here . The paper behind this was in the BMJ What actually crept into the programme at the end amid all of the debunking was a quiet statement that there are only two products that have really been found to have much in the way of positive benefits:  caffeine and creatine. I have mentioned creatine a few times on here in the past.  I've tried it on and off and have never felt good with it - I cramp up and feel "dry".  I keep trying it again, although I've not had any for a couple of years. Anyway, coincidentally I saw this abstract today of a review about Creatine, I've not read it yet, but the whole paper is available Creatine supplementation with specific vi...

This is just impressive to watch.  I am not saying this is how you should train, just that this is a great set of lifts to watch.  via Marc Keys

Well there is more to it than this......but come on calories do matter From: InsuranceQuotes.org

Getting leaner This is probably obvious, or should be, but it is something that I've learned recently.  Prompted by a post from Jeff Erno a few months ago I moved from my normal routine of just eating a good real food diet to actually tracking my intake and working to achieve certain macros and calorie levels.  It was quite instructive in terms of how much fat I was eating and how soon that crowded out other macro nutrients, if I was aiming for a particular calorie level in order to lose fat.  Nothing wrong with dietary fat....but ultimately calories count and it is easy to eat too much when you focus on butter and cream...... Once I started tracking and playing with a few other tricks (IF and carb cycling under the guidance of a coach) things started to really kick in and I am leaner than I've ever been.   I am sure I'll write more about this at some point. Anyway, here is a press release about a study which highlights the potential value of t...

This is a reminder to myself of something I was thinking about around how to present my ideas on training. I have always been impressed by Wittgenstein's Tractatus. 7 propositions stating the whole of his philosophy. Each except the last elucidated by some others. Could I do that about fitness training? Can it all be kept simple? A series of simple propositions? So much of the fitness blogosphere thrives on complexity, jargon. Can we just make it clear and simple? Zen? Maybe not 7 propositions but certainly just a few key ideas. What will be in the mix? The goal is max fibre recruitment; the exercises, the protocol is secondary to this. There is no such thing as cardio. Much of what we call fitness is skill. Safety is fundamental. Posture has a role. Poor posture can mean less efficient movement and more wear and tear. Sleep...just sleep Eat appropriate quantity, optimum quality and suitable composition. Stress needs managed. Do you see where I am go...

Every now and again I get sent an infographic to put on this blog.  They can be quite good and nicely presented, and I am not naive - I realise that they usually contain a link to some business, they are viral to generate traffic.  Anyway,   I got one today all about how we should drink loads and loads of water.  Maybe, but I am reading more recently on the dangers of over hydration - diluting your electrolytes. I have a book on my pile to read which looks interesting:   Waterlogged Here is a fascinating interview with the author - Tim Noakes TIM NOAKES ON THE SERIOUS PROBLEM OF OVERHYDRATION IN ENDURANCE SPORTS Drink to thirst regardless of how much weight you lose. The ACSM guideline that one should not lose more than 2 percent body weight is contrary to the published evidence and the findings in elite athletes that drinking "ahead of thirst" impairs exercise performance. Can you talk a little bit about the history o...

This is intriguing. Multiple Pieces of Food Are More Rewarding Than an Equicaloric Single Piece of Food in Both Animals and Humans Both humans and animals use number as a cue to judge quantities of food, with larger numbers usually associated with larger quantities. Therefore, a food portion cut into multiple, bite-sized pieces may perceptually look more and therefore elicit greater satiation than the same portion presented as a single, large piece. So a big 1 lb steak doesn't look as filling as 4 quarterpounders..... Devina Wadhera, the lead author, suggests that "cutting up energy-dense meal foods into smaller pieces may be beneficial to dieters who wish to make their meal more satiating while also maintaining portion control."

That seems to be how this study is being reported anyway. Sedentary behaviour and life expectancy in the USA: a cause-deleted life table analysis  ( full paper) Interesting to see all the commentary on this one in various places: The BBC -  Can spending less time sitting down add years to life? Science Daily -  Cutting Daily Sitting Time to Under Three Hours Might Extend Life by Two Years Obesity Panacea made a good point: These sorts of theoretical studies obviously need to be taken with a large dollop of salt (just like the recent Australian study which estimated that every hour of TV viewing shortens your life by 25 minutes).   The point is simply that there is a non-negligible impact of sitting/TV viewing on mortality, and given the extremely high prevalence of these behaviours at the population level, they can have noticeable impact on the lifespan of the population as a whole. As usual, NHS Choices keep things o...

Just  wanted to point to a couple of studies that I saw today.  We know that retaining as much muscle as possible as we age for a whole bunch of reasons: function, trauma protection, balance, stronger bones, a reservoir of amino acids to support the immune system ....etc These two look interesting: Protein Supplementation Increases Muscle Mass Gain During Prolonged Resistance-Type Exercise Training in Frail Elderly People: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial Old people need to train AND adding some additional protein helps..... But they need to KEEP OFF STATINS.   Effect of a high dose of simvastatin on muscle mitochondrial metabolism and calcium signaling in healthy volunteers .

I had this press release sent to me today.   Interesting stuff that would once have been science fiction. Controlling a robot with your mind   Controlling a toy robot with your mind. Brain researcher, Nick Ramsey, of the UMC Utrecht, has managed to get study subjects to do just that. It forms the basis of a brain-computer interface that will allow paralyzed people to control a computer.     In the study, subjects had to lie still in a powerful, 7T MRI scanner, while the computer screen showed them what a toy robot’s camera could ‘see’. The subjects did not move, but had to keep their eyes focused on a single point. As the MRI scanner measured the brain activity, the computer learnt when the subjects were thinking left , right or forwards . In this way, Ramsey and other UMC Utrecht colleagues have enabled four subjects to control a robot. The robot successfully completed a course of about nine meters with four stops along the way, while the ‘driver’ ...

Well I hear that  Stress Slows Your Recovery From Workouts .   I wonder if it is because stress makes us drink more ?  Therefore, in light of our major findings, athletes and others undergoing bouts of strenuous exercise should undertake strategies to a) obviate the negative effects of chronic mental stress or b) monitor for stress and engage carefully in strenuous exercise when chronic stress is unavoidable. Of course Marcora would tell us that the big problem is that stress makes everything feel harder psychologically.  

From Dave Asprey